Archive for January 11th, 2012

Yikes, it’s hard to say which game has been the ugliest so far? Last night in Washington? The debacle at home against New Jersey? Saturday in Philly?

One could make a case that getting thumped by formerly winless WAshington, turning the ball over 23 times and shooting 39.5% might qualify.

- Again, nobody but Andrea Bargnani had it offensively. Two rebounds and worse defence than he has shown so far this season (McGee and Raptor-killer Trevor Booker lit him up a bit). I’m surprised he’s been able to score like this given how bad the rest of his teammates have been offensively.

- Time to put out an APB on DeMar DeRozan? 4-for-16 from the field, struggling with shot selection. Playing hard on defence doesn’t seem to be agreeing with DeRozan at the other end. We’ve seen that before, T-Mac was a monster defensively and Vince Carter as well before they were asked to carry an offence. Now DeMar isn’t either and he’s never going to be asked to be a No. 1 option like those guys, but I still believe it is tough for most players to play exceptional defence while also approaching 20 points per game and that has been the case for DeRozan.

- I didn’t mind Jose Calderon’s game. Not his best but not his worst either. Decent job on John Wall, who nobody in the league can stay in front of. Some uncharacteristic turnovers though.

- Found it weird that Toronto’s basketball IQ was even worse than Washington’s on Tuesday. The Wizards have some of the worst decision-makers in the league, but it was the Raptors who took bad shots and more damningly, kept throwing the ball to the dudes wearing white.

- “That’s the game right there,” Andrea Bargnani said. “That’s 25 shots we didn’t take, 25 times we gave them the possibility to go on a fast break and this team doesn’t wait. They are very athletic running up and down the court. We made their game.”

- Nice job from Anthony Carter off of the bench in his best outing of the year.

- Trevor Booker didn’t miss a shot. he had a career night against Toronto last season.

- Washington is a bad matchup for Toronto, especially on a back-to-back. The last thing the Raptors seemed to want to do was run and that’s the first thing John Wall and Co. want to do. Toronto isn’t a team that forces a lot of turnovers, which makes playing the Wizards tougher because they commit a ton, if pressured. On Tuesday, the pressure (provided by the Raptors) was off and now the pressure is off of the Wizards, who finally are in the win column.

- I liked Bargnani and DeRozan taking ownership and showing leadership after the loss. DeRozan must show up on Wednesday against Sacramento or else it might legitimately be time to panic about his game and where it is headed.